Of Babies and Willow Trees
by MomoMouat97
Summary: Nico had never held something as precious as his newborn daughter in his arms. Solangelo.


"Are you ever going to let me hold her?"

Nico didn't take his eyes off of the little girl nestled snugly in his arms, keeping them glued to her puckered little face. Her mouth opened and closed periodically, like the cutest little fish you could have ever imagined. "Unlikely. Gods, I didn't know it was possible for something to be so…so, _cute_."

Will ambled up behind his boyfriend of more years than he could count, wrapping his arms around the two of them and pressing his chin onto the crown of Nico's head full of black hair. "I think she likes you."

The baby girl wiggled slightly, her face scrunching up into a frown with her eyes still shut. Her little thumb popped into her mouth as she turned to rest her cheek on Nico's black shirt. Carefully, more delicately than he'd thought possible before now, Nico brushed his hand across her head, feeling the dark patch of peach fuzz. It contrasted nicely with her tanned skin, and with that frown on her face she looked so much like her biological mother it made Nico's breath catch.

"We're so lucky that Reyna offered to become our surrogate," Will whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of Nico's temple, his eyes still trained on his new daughter. "She's going to grow up to be a beautiful, powerful demigod one day."

"With Bellona's strength, and Hades' powers," Nico joked, bouncing the baby slightly when she let out a whimper. "Shh, it's okay, baby girl. I gotcha. Yes, I do."

The stood in silence, just taking in every single little move that their daughter made, marveling over how perfectly small she was. Will rubbed his finger lightly over her hand, and she closed it, gripping onto his tanned fingers with strength that a normal newborn shouldn't have been able to possess.

"Hades came by earlier to see her," Nico told Will, starting to rock his daughter. "He said he sensed great things in her future – and something about the strongest leader we'd ever see."

"Not sure whether to be proud, jealous, or scared about that," Will swallowed, worried that his daughter would have a short, stressful life. Even though she was a second generation demi-god – a legacy on her Roman half – she still held the blood of two powerful Gods within her. They'd gotten Chiron to work the mist around her as best as she could… but the Mist wasn't foolproof. Monsters were going to be seeking her out – the only question was, when?

Would she ever even have a chance to live a normal life? Or was that out of the question – forced to seek refuge only at one of her two camps?

"She'll be fine," Nico bit his lip, feeling slightly ill. It was impossible for him to imagine that something would want to hurt the tiny little miracle slumbering in his arms. "She has two powerful dads to take care of her, right?"

"Well, one dad to protect her – and one to bind her wounds," Will joked. "Now gimme – I want to hold her."

"Sure, sure," Nico carefully transferred their sleeping daughter into his boyfriend's waiting arms. "Gods, she's cute."

"I love babies," Will whispered, grinning down at her. "I could never have too many."

"The next one can be yours," Nico half-joked, darting carefully to the side to avoid Will's poking finger. "Hey, watch it!"

"We haven't even named this one!" Will rolled his eyes at Nico's antics. Sometimes, his twenty-five year old boyfriend could act like the teenager that he was when they first met.

Nico, after he'd judged that he was safe from Will's searching fingers, crept closer. "Well, let's do that then. It's about time – any ideas?"

A small crease formed in Will's forehead. "Um, I don't know – maybe a play on our two names? So that way she has a little something from the two of us?"

"Like Willow? Is that what you mean?"

Will broke out into a huge smile. "I like that. Willow – what do you think? Does she look like a Willow to you?"

"I think it's perfect," Nico beamed, all traces of darkness washed away from his face. He'd never been happier than right now, in this moment. He finally had found a family of his own. "Our little Willow."

Willow started to fuss, and Will carefully pulled her so her head was resting on his shoulder. It took awhile, but eventually she started to calm down, and fell asleep. Nico helped his boyfriend transfer her to her waiting bassinet, and took Will's hand to lead him out of the room.

They found their way outside, on their balcony, overlooking one of the quieter locations on the edge of New York. The sun was starting to set over one of the hills in the distance, and the valley was alight with a warm, orange glow.

Camp Half Blood wasn't more than a twenty minute drive away, which was really handy when Chiron called to ask them to come teach a class of some sorts. It happened more than you would think – Nico was the only living demigod of Hades who had the power to travel in darkness, and Will was their top healer. They always seemed to be in high demand.

Nico felt like his life was perfect in this moment of time. He had the man that he'd loved for over a decade by his side, a newborn baby sleeping in the next room over, and more friends than he ever though he'd have a chance to have. If you'd asked him ten years ago, where he thought his life was going to be at this point in the future, he probably would have said nothing – because ten years ago, that's where he figured he was heading.

Children of Hades never had happy endings – but it seemed to Nico that he might have turned out to be one of the exceptions.

"I love you," Nico murmured, turning to rest his head on Will's shoulder. He closed his eyes as Will wrapped his arm around him, squeezing tightly. "So much."

"And I love you."


End file.
